The Aftereffects Of A Mean Gym Teacher

For everyone who remembers dreading gym class...you're not crazy if you think the trauma lives on years later. A new study from the University of Alberta Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation found that having had a bad experience in gym class can leave you with a negative perception of fitness later in life. An instructor's bad characteristics—we're talking about minor things like having low energy or more major stuff like being unfair or embarrassing students—can all leave a lifelong negative attitude toward physical activity in general. One editor here remembers a gym teacher who said that girls couldn't play football and also forced the entire class to be weighed publicly—and who knows if that's why, but she's way more likely to do soothing yoga than hit an actual gym these days. What was your gym teacher like—and do you think it affects how you feel about fitness now?